2017 city Budget Drastically cuts Spending on Shelters Despite near record Levels of Homelessness

The 2017 city budget has cut spending for homeless shelters, despite high levels of homelessness that don’t appear to be dropping anytime soon, a new report from a fiscal monitor found.

The Independent Budget Office found that the city is budgeting $325 million for homeless adult shelters, and $452 million for family shelters in 2017 — $120 million and $72 million less than this year, respectively.

The administration is reducing spending on those shelters because it hopes that the homeless population — which is at near record levels — will drop after a slew of new programs kick in.

But the IBO report cautions that those programs — including rental subsidy programs and 15,000 units of supportive housing — will likely take several years to have any impact.

As proof, the IBO points to stats regarding Mayor de Blasio’s rental subsidy program, Living in Communities, which is known as LINC.

That program, which gives rental vouchers as high as $1,515, has only assisted about half as many households as was planned.

 

That makes it “unlikely that the program will meet its goal of 8,322 placements by the end of this fiscal year,” the report found.

A spokeswoman for the mayor said the administration was in the middle of a 90-day review, which will determine spending for next year. That could mean more funding for shelters next year.

"The homelessness crisis was created by years of disinvestment; it takes sustained resources and smart management to address it, and that's exactly what this administration is doing," said Amy Spitalnick.

"A comprehensive 90 day review is underway, and that assessment will directly inform future years' spending."